If My Heart Was a House
by srufan
Summary: Spike and Winnie find their dream house, and Spike pops THE question to his beautiful Winnie, as they go through the ups and downs of starting the next phase of their life together. Direct pick-up from the end of Matching Wallpaper
1. The Question

Spike never knew he could feel so nervous in his entire life - he was all about staying cool at work, but this was different. This was one of the Big Life Moments with his love and he knew that the double surprise he had planned for her was nothing short of awesome.

Still, he was thankful he had his cop's training as it helped him fib his way through his afternoon with his love, as he watched her brush her hair in the mirror on the back of their bedroom door. At first that had creeped him out until he'd figured out that if they kept the door shut during sexy times, Spike could still see her face if he entered her from behind. Once he'd confessed that little naughty secret to her, she'd just whacked him with a pillow and told him they all had their little kinks and apparently that was his. He knew too that she was planning on giving him 'cheer-up' sex later that night from owing to the fact that it was also Lou's birthday which never failed to make him feel down.

Spike was feeling anything but down right now, and Winnie didn't know it yet but he planned to make love with her for an entirely different reason.

'You sure you feel up to this, babe?' she asked him, catching him looking at her in the mirror. 'It was a pretty disappointing week.'

'Hey, none of that. The house we get will be amazing.'

'I know, I just really like that one.' Winnie waited a beat. 'Really _really_ liked it. What if we upped our offer? I can-'

'Win, it's done, okay? Trust me, we will get our house.' A small part of Spike felt bad about the way he was making her pout, the larger part was trying to keep from spilling all right there in their rental home's bedroom. 'Now, you wanna get out of here so we don't miss our reservations?'

'Sure.'

Winnie knew she was acting like a stubborn child but she couldn't help it. A solid month of house hunting, sometimes multiple appointments in a day and then they'd come within inches of getting their dream home only to have it snatched away. Still she knew that wherever she and Spike did end up they would make it their dream home because they had each other.

And besides, fireplaces could always be installed into family rooms, she reminded herself as they stepped out into the crisp early-December air. That was why they'd set up the joint account in their names, so their home would truly be theirs with those added little special touches. Forcing herself to focus on that part instead, she blinked in bafflement when she climbed into Spike's truck and he passed her the sleep-mask she usually saved for being on planes.

'What's this?'

'I've got a little surprise for you, something I know will snap you out of that funk you've been in since Tuesday. Go on.' Spike waggled it at her, breathed a little sigh of relief when she complied with a shrug.

'Last thing I wanna do is upset you when you've clearly gone to this much trouble,' she said on a little shrug, and slipping it over her eyes, she settled back against the seat as she let Spike work his Spike-magic on her.

* * *

><p>By Winnie's estimation, they'd been driving for what felt like an eternity when they finally came to a stop; when she went to lift the mask off her eyes, she felt Spike's delicate touch on her hand.<p>

'Not yet. First, hold out your hand.'

She did so, then frowned in confusion as something dropped into her waiting open palm. It was small, metallic but too durable to be jewellery. Then she felt the smooth grooves on one side, the jagged line on the other of the slim stick.

'A key? To what, the universe?'

'Sort of. Open your eyes.'

Winnie took off the mask, blinked rapidly to clear her vision. They were nowhere near a restaurant but on a residential street and...no, no it couldn't be, she thought with a little burst of numb shock. They were sitting in front of the house on Redcar Avenue, the sign out front with a bright orange SOLD sticker on the top.

'Michelangelo, what are we doing here?'

'Welcome home, my love,' he replied, finally allowing the grin to spread.

'Home, but...' Winnie's hand trembled once as she lifted her fingers to see the neatly printed tag of the key in her hand. _44 R-Car Ave F Door. _'Home? _Home?'_

'I wanted to surprise you. Demetria called me this afternoon at work, the other offer fell through so Jason is taking ours.' Spike gave a happy laugh. 'We got the house, Winona.'

'We...we got the house?' Winnie said it softly, as though anything louder might reveal the lie of his words. 'We got the house?'

'We got the house.'

'We got the house!' Now she gave a jubilant shriek of mirth, throwing her arms around Spike's neck. 'Oh my god! Oh my god! So...what about paperwork and escrow and the money and-'

'We've got an appointment at Demetria's office Monday morning to settle the paperwork and the money and all that shit. Tonight, let's just celebrate.'

'We got the house,' Winnie said again in an awestruck voice as Spike got out of the truck to open her door. 'It's ours, a beautiful little spot to call our own.'

'We've got the key for the weekend, so we can take photos for renovations in the kitchen or anything else we want,' Spike went on as they headed for the front door, his heart thundering in his chest.

Unlocking the door, he led her inside and immediately saw her brain go into what he thought of as design mode, it was the same look she got when she was planning a trip for them, or a fancy dinner menu for a get together, or his favourite, when she was concocting a seriously saucy bedtime story to tantalize him as their foreplay. Spike loved when she did those, when they were both exhausted from work and wanted to make lvoe but weren't quite sure if they had the energy.

It was one of the many reasons he loved her.

'I'm thinking the kitchen is what would take the most work before we move in,' Winnie told him, 'because I don't know about you but I'm not interested in moving into a place that will be partially under construction.'

'Agreed.'

'Why don't we have a look around the rest of the place, or do we have time before our reservations go to waste?'

'We have a little time. Wanna go have a look upstairs?'

'Sure.'

Spike went to take her hand, then with his heart in his mouth, tugged her to where he wanted her, in the archway between the hallway and the kitchen. 'Hey, look at that.'

'What?'

'That.'

Winnie craned her neck up, laughed when she saw the mistletoe hung above their heads, then squinted. There was something glittering in the little bunch of artificial twigs Spike had undoubtedly put up to have their first kiss in the new home; she had to admit she felt the romance of a new home with him even more now that it was a real thing.

Then, everything seemed to go blank when Winnie reached up for whatever it was catching the light from the kitchen, tugged it off the loose string where it was attached to the silly little decoration and she realized it wasn't just any shiny thing - it was a ring.

An engagement ring.

Lips moving silently, Winnie stared at it in her hands unable to believe what she was holding. Then her eyes flicked up and she saw that Spike was kneeling before her, still holding her hands.

'Oh my god.'

'Winona Michelle Camden, you are the best thing that ever happened to me, and I know there are a thousand fancy things I could and probably should say but for me the simplest ones always work best with you. I love you and I want nothing more in this world than to spend the rest of my life loving you and making you as happy as you've made me. Will you marry me?'

'Yes, oh god, yes, of course I will Michelangelo!' Winnie could hardly get the words out in her utter shock of delight and surprise. 'Oh, my god, baby! Oh my god! Oh, Mike, oh...oh wow.'

Not even bothering to wipe at his eyes as tears of joy streamed down his face, Spike rose to kiss Winnie long and deep, felt her shudder and tremble for him as he helped slide his family ring onto her hand. 'I love you so much,' he murmured to her as he held her close.

'I love you more.'

'Not possible,' Spike retorted on a watery laugh, as Winnie stroked her palms over his cheeks to brush away the tears. 'I was so scared you might say no.'

'Never to you, my beautiful angel. Never.'

'Hey, we should call everyone.'

'Team One,' Spike decided. 'We're already going to see your folks and Aaron tomorrow for dinner after shift to tell them about the house.'

'You planned that too,' Winnie giggled, admiring the ring winking and shining away on her finger.

'Nah, but we should tell them that news in person. I happen to know too that Team One minus us was going for beers tonight. They knew we had plans,' he explained on a cocky wink, his confidence returning as he fished out his phone and dialed Ed's cell which connected on the third ring. 'Hey, Ed? Where are you guys? Put me on speaker phone!'

There was a general shushing and he could hear the movement of people before Ed's voice came through strong and a little distorted from the loud speaker.

'Yeah, Spike what's going on?'

'I've got someone here who wants to say hi.'

'Oh yeah, who's that?'

'The future Missus Michelangelo Scarlatti,' Winnie trilled, and she heard the cheers in the background mixed with 'way to go' and congratulations!' 'You guys were in on this weren't you?'

'We knew Spike had a plan just not when that plan would go down.' Leah's voice was warm and rich with love. 'Were you surprised?'

'Did you cry?' Jules added. 'I did, and Sam told me how funny he thought it was that I didn't shed a tear over getting shot but a diamond ring made me fountain.;

'Get down here and come have a drink with us!' Now it was Moise who piped up. 'We wanna see that ice!'

'How about tomorrow, we've got reservations at eight and we don't wanna miss those,' Spike told them, subtly giving the signal for the next part of his plan.

'You got it, buddy, and congrats again,' Ed told him, then hung up as he looked around - he was not in a noisy packed bar but his own home with some very important VIPs. 'Alright troops, Operation Surprise Number Three is now officially in its final execution stages. Let's roll.'


	2. The Surprise I

'A bride, a bride, I'm gonna be a bride!'

Winnie all but sang it as she wiggled in her seat, while Spike drove them through the gnarly traffic of Friday night rush hour to get them from their soon-to-be home to Rosenkrantz, one of Lou's favourite spots; they'd decided to begin a new tradition of going out on Lou's birthday to remember him in a celebratory way, instead of going out and. It hadn't been lost on her that Spike had proposed on his guardian angel-best friend's birthday and being the sort of superstitious person she was, Winnie had to believe that this was Lou's way of smiling down on them.

She was still in a haze about it. Spike had asked her to marry him. _Marry_ him. Not like on the school-yard or in a work-wife type of way but his actual wife. Partners in crime until the end of time. That was a good one, she mused, looking out at the brilliant lights of the city which had never looked more beautiful than tonight. Maybe they could get that etched on their wedding bands.

Leaning over, she nuzzled against his shoulder and gave an excited little giggle. 'Think if we tell them we just got engaged, we'll get free champagne? Or free anything?'

'Maybe. Or maybe they'll be so dazzled by the ice on my fiancee's hand that they won't know they're asses from their elbows.' Spike felt sunlight rush through his veins at the use of the F word. Finally, finally, that little sliver of guilt he'd carried with him for almost a year about keeping the Scarlatti family antique hidden from his beloved Winona vanished and he was able to share it with the world that even then, she hadn't been just his girlfriend. 'Maybe afterwards, we can go to the new house and give it a proper christening.'

'I love you to the moon and back, but I draw the line at sex in someone else's house.'

'What about when we went to stay with your dad and Rachel? Or my mom's in Italy? Or Ed and Sophie's family cottage? Or Dottie and Raf's place? Or-'

'I mean,' Winnie interrupted as he continued to make a top-ten list of all the other homes not their own where they'd made love, 'it's neither our house nor owned by our close friends who are aware of the fact that part of the reason we stay in such great shape is because of all the naked workouts we have together. That's almost as creepy as being busted by the cops in a parked car.'

'Alright, alright, but we're still going to-'

'There's the exit ramp!'

Spike, being so lost in the fantasy of naked Winnie with him as they camped out like kids on the living room floor of their new home, nearly missed the exit ramp for Billy Bishop Airport which was a hop skip and stone's throw away from their restaurant of choice that night. 'Guess we better get used to using the Gardiner to get downtown, huh?'

'Or I could get the car my dad's always threatened me with, because the transit system...well, it's only a few blocks away I suppose.'

'I remember you mentioning the issues of living downtown and having the garage and repair fees and everything. You think that'll change since we're now going to have a house?'

'I found out about our house an hour ago, and in that time you proposed to me too. My brain only has room for so much,' Winnie laughed. 'Why or how did a black guy from Oakville make a nice family owned Jewish pub a favourite?'

'How does a Dutch-Metis black girl end up liking Thai food?' Spike countered teasingly as he parked at a meter. 'These things have a like a two hour limit, you know.'

'Considering the likelihood of getting a spot in a parking tower nearby-' Spike gestured up and down the street where pubs and restaurants all but glowed with vitality '-I'll risk it. Or I can set a timer on my phone and run out to feed the meter.'

'Why don't you just worry about feeding me instead.'

'Ohhh, so tempting to make a dirty joke.'

'You know, when I was in high school I never liked the really gory scary movies that were all the rage, so I would hang with my theatre friends at Hallowe'en and we'd watch _Rocky Horror _and _Little Shop of Horrors _and I always-always thought that song, "Feed Me Seymour" was very twistedly sexual.'

'It is,' Spike agreed, holding open the door for her; immediately they were both hit by the fragrance of fresh bread and herbs as well as the noise of a packed house with more people waiting for tables in the bar and lobby. 'I always thought it'd be cool to remake that musical only instead of Audrey II being obviously a plant, she should be a sexy woman by day and then turn into her alien form when she feeds.'

'Really? I thought the original Audrey and the Audrey II should be in on it together.'

'And then when Audrey II tries to eat original Audrey, it's really a set-up to get rid of Seymour now that Audrey II is powerful enough to take over the world.'

'Right there, that's why I wanna marry you.' Winnie grinned, kissed him before they stepped up to the hostess podium. 'Hi, we have a reservation for two, Scarlatti?'

'Scarlatti, Scarlatti.' The hostess mumbled it, then to Winnie's irritation, shook her head. 'Sorry, no, there's nothing here under that name.'

'Did I make it under Camden, possibly?' Spike inquired, leading to another scan and another shake. 'Well crap. I made that reservation a week ago.'

'I'm so sorry sir, you're welcome to wait but it will be about an hour.'

Winnie looked at Spike. 'You wanna wait, or you wanna try somewhere else?'

'I- hold that thought.' He pulled out his phone, saw Ed was calling. _Right on time_, he thought as he tapped the green icon to answer it. 'Eddie, what's going on?'

'We're here, everything is ready to go.'

'Oh, sure, yeah, that's sounds good.' Spike made a show of holding his hand to cover the microphone of his cell. 'Ed and Sophie wanna take us to dinner in an hour. You in?'

'Yeah, sure, where should we meet them?'

'Where should we meet you?' Spike repeated.

'Traffic reports say if you leave The Beaches now, you'll be here in about twenty minutes.'

'Sounds perfect. They're meeting us at our place, on Beverly Street,' he added to clarify after hanging up, 'so we can have as much to drink as we want.'

'What nice friends,' Winnie sighed, and Spike let out his own shaky breath of relief. They were almost home-free, just a few more minutes. Then the _real_ party of the night would start.

* * *

><p>The drive back to Beverly Street was, in Spike's mind, interminable - he was certain that they'd pass a vehicle they'd recognize or that a neighbour would be outside and comment on the flux of people at their house. But luck, or maybe it really was Lou, was smiling down on them and they made it with no incidents or suspicions.<p>

'Maybe since they're meeting us here in an hour, we can celebrate this bad boy,' Winnie wiggled her fingers of her left hand.

'I cannot make our friends wait again, not after your birthday,' Spike chuckled, as he unlocked the house and opened the door to the darkened house for her, stepped in behind her to turn on the lights.

'SURPRISE!'

Winnie felt her senses get a second shock of the night at the burst of noise from the living room. There, crowded in front of the fireplace that never worked, was all of Team One and their spouses along with Winnie's parents, Rachel and Aaron, Raf and Dottie, Shelley and Wordy, while Dean Parker and Clarke Lane sat in the arm-chairs with little Sadie Braddock and Issy and on the sofa sat Greg Parker with Marina.

'Congratulations!' they chorused together, and Winnie actually pressed a hand to her heart as she fought to keep her composure before turning to Spike to playfully give him what-for - only to find him just as dumbstruck as she was.

'Did you do this?'

'This? No, I just asked Sophie if she could make us a romantic candelight dinner at home to celebrate in case we got...distracted,' he finished on a little wink, 'but this...what did you guys do?'

'When you told me that you were going to be asking for a special engagement dinner, I put my head together with this fine lady-' Dottie wrapped a friendly arm around Sophie's waist '-and we decided that just wasn't enough.'

'We've been waiting to have this night with you guys almost as much as you've been waiting to ask her,' Sam added, swigging from a can of ginger-ale; he'd pretend it was champagne so that he'd be safe to drive Jules and Sadie home. 'So, you know, basically since we saw Eddie answer Spike's phone when you were calling him last summer after the bombing.'

'We...' Gabriella started to speak but then pressed her hand to her mouth as she hugged Winnie first, then Spike. 'We couldn't be happier for you two, truly.'

'Congratulations, son,' Pietr added, pulling Spike in for a bear-like embrace before Rachel squeezed him like a python. 'For Winnie and on the house.'

'Yes, yes, you have to show us pictures and everything!' Rachel made no attempt to hide her tears of joy and let them flow freely down her friendly face. 'When will you move in, what will happen with this place, will there be-'

'Ray, she just found out about a house and got engaged, there's only so much room in her brain,' Pietr reminded his wife; it was the exact right comment to make, as the uncanny nature of how Winnie had said something almost identical to Spike helped clear away any possibility he might blubber in front of his team. The feeling didn't last long, though, when Greg got to his feet and leaning only a little on his stylish bamboo walking-stick he clapped Spike on the shoulder with one of his sturdy hands.

'Congrats again, Spike,' he said, then added in Italian, 'I know your dad would be very proud of you for picking such a great woman.'

'Winnie's the best,' Spike replied in Italian - he often forgot that Greg was mostly Italian himself, then felt a zip of horror. 'Oh, shit, shit shit! I haven't called my mother in Italy yet!'

'Got you covered, bro.' Clarke held up the iPad which was dialing in across the ocean, Issy pointing proudly to it.

'I help Cuh-Larke push dee but-tons,' she said importanty, and to Winnie's delight Sadie nodded along with her big-girl friend.

'Bud-ons,' she added in a tone just like Sam's.

'Thanks ladies and gents, and-'

'Michelangelo!'


	3. The Surprise II

_Hello my lovelies! No I haven't forgotten you, it's just been a whole two weeks of stupid Real Life stuff taking over! Hahaha, but here we are, and trust me you will love this one _

* * *

><p>The word burst like a mini bomb-blast from the small speakers of the iPad, making the newly engaged couple snicker. Only one person could have that much energy at two in the morning, Spike thought and waved at his cousin. 'Hi Monica.'<p>

'Not just me, everyone is here!'

Spike and Winnie saw Monica move the tablet around theroom for a sweeping panoramic view that was kept from being a blur by her steady hands; both felt a little hitch in the chest when the camera stopped on Michelina. 'Mama, we-'

'Ahhhh! Oh my boy! You proposed the marriage to her! And she said yes, of course, yes? She said yes?'

'I did say yes,' Winnie laughed, swaying lightly into Spike's chest, then blinking in shock at the noise that erupted from the tablet's speakers it was a wonder they didn't shatter.

'Oh oh oh! Oh yes! Oh wonderful joyous news!' Monica jumped and shrieked. 'Oh congratulations!'

'There's more, too,' Winnie managed to get in as she watched her future cousin-in-law - was that even a thing? - stop her happy dance, with her eyes going large and round like an owl's.

'More?'

'Yes, even more news.'

'The wedding will come before,' Michelina interjected, sipping her wine. 'That is a promise before God that cannot be undone.'

'Oh, Ma, no.' Realizing his mother was once again assuming they were starting a family, Spike shook his head. 'Not a baby, a house.'

'A house?'

'Yes, we found the house we want to begin our married life in, and our offer has been accepted.'

Somehow, though neither Spike nor Winnie knew how, Monica and Michelina's shouts of excitement rose further on the decibel scale; with promises of a proper tour the next morning, once they were done with their party with their friends and Winnie's family, the Skype call was ended and they turned back to their guests who were all grinning and holding glasses of champagne. Dottie and Ed each passed one to the happy couple.

'Alright, party animals, a little toast here,' Dottie started, then turned to Winnie and for the first time in she couldn't remember how long, Winnie saw tears sparkle at the edges of her bestie-sister's eye. 'For the last twelve years, I've watched my best friend be very picky about men, and especially dating cops. So when she told me that she was dating someone who was also a police officer, I just knew there was something extra special about him. And it turns out I was right, he was special. He sees how wonderfully brilliant, kind, funny, and beautiful you are and I know you two will spend every chance you can trying to fill that new house with your own little Mini-Winnie's and Mini-Spikes. Or at the very least practicing for it.'

'Dottie,' Winnie muttered on a little blush; it would be ridiculous to ignore the fact that everyone knew they were going to celebrate privately once they'd all left by banging each other senseless, but neither was it cool to announce it to a crowd that included her mother, father, step-mother, teenage brother and her boss and colleagues. 'Very funny.'

'Hey, she said it first,' Ed chuckled. 'And we all know how long it took you and Spike to get together but I think we all know that the wait made you grow closer together, appreciate each other even more, and of course making up for all that lost time.'

'You know there's more to it than that, that she's a hell of a great chef too,' Spike teased him, making everyone laugh.

'That too,' Ed conceded. 'More than anything, seeing you two together, to think of you any other way just makes no sense because you love each other that much and remind us all what happens when you say you're with someone through thick and thin and really mean it. May this next chapter together continue to inspire us all.'

Everyone lifted their glasses in salute, waiting until Spike and Winnie had tapped their crystal flutes together, sipped and kissed once more before following suit; a few moments later Sophie was calling out, 'Okay, kitchen helpers, I need you to give me just a few minutes so we can put out the snacks and get dinner going in the oven!'

As the crowd milled around them, Spike turned to Winnie and felt his heart stutter once more when he saw the beautiful dreamy look Winnie was giving him. 'My god, you're gorgeous,' he breathed, and Winnie's face split into a wide grin.

'Is it me, or did Eddie sound like he was auditioning to be your best man?'

'Well, I haven't asked him yet but I think he will be up for the job.'

'I'll be sure to get some extra-high heels for Dottie so it won't look like Ed's walking a Barbie-doll down the aisle.'

Spike shook his head - for all the stereotypical 'chick behaviour' Winnie and Dottie tended to eschew he knew neither could resist; both of them loved spa days, ice cream and planning celebrations. Perhaps that was why in the last eighteen months Spike had been a party host at his own house than in the majority of his life combined. Of course his girl and her best friend would have talked about wedding ideas even with no weddings in sight. It was why he loved her - Winnie had a knack for planning and remember the details. It was why she was such an amazing cop, and one of the many reasons Spike wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

Winnie saw the grin on his face, changed tactics; talk about the wedding itself could wait. For now there were more pressing matters on her mind. 'So, what did you think we should have for our first meal as an engaged couple?'

'I think we should have something that reflects us perfectly as a couple something that says we are classy and elegant but fun and adventurous, but something that is also a nod to where we started. So...'

'So...' She waited to hear the rest of his thought, then caught his eyebrow wiggle. 'So...'

'So...guess what dishes I think mean the most to us.'

'Pizza from our first date.' Winnie felt her stomach bounce at his wink. 'You didn't!'

'Not just pizza but also that wonderful chilli the first time you brought me dinner at work and also a certain snack I know you're fond of from our trip to Naples.' Spike leaned in for the kill, and added in a whisper, 'One that I saw you making while learning to speak Italian, which as you probably remember resulted in us having some rather manic afternoon sex.'

'Ravioli!' Winnie's eyes sparkled as bright as her ring, and she kissed his cheek, whispered back, 'Perhaps later, we can have some as a snack...after.'

'After?'

'After.'

* * *

><p>Despite the overwhelming gratitude and joy and other effervescent emotions Spike was feeling, he really just wanted one thing tonight - Winnie, in his arms, naked and trembling as they made wickedly passionate love.<p>

They finally had their alone time close to midnight, when at long last Raf tugged Dottie away from girl-chat with the bride-to-be, gently murmuring to her they needed some alone time. Dottie, half-wasted on champagne, had agreed without a second thought to the idea that Spike was essentially kicking them out so he and Winnie could have sex. Knowing Dottie, she'd bring it up at just the right moment to make Raf laugh and take his own beloved to bed.

With the door shut behind them, Spike turned around and grinned when he saw Winnie sitting sideways in the armchair, a gentle swing in her feet and a come-hither glint in her eye.

'We are alone. I'm alone with my fiance on the night of our engagement,' she all but purred at him. 'However might we celebrate just one on one?'

'Well I have a few ideas,' he replied in the tone that told Winnie he'd had just enough champagne to get creative but not so much that he'd be a mess in bed tonight. Moving towards the kitchen, he felt her eyes follow him as he found a bottle of the wine from Italy they'd hoarded from Thanksgiving when Monica shipped over a carepack from the farm. 'Like...'

'Like what?'

'Like getting you naked in bed and licking this wine off every inch of your naughty bits.'

A shiver ran through Winnie and she grinned, then pulled her top over her head. 'Why don't you skip the bed and we just do it right here?'

'As fun as that would be, I would rather save the how-many-places-can-we-do-it game for the new house and make our first time engaged a bookend to the night we first made love.'

'Last August, the first night you took me to Andolini's.' Winnie rose, reached out her hand to Spike and they walked upstairs to their room with fingers linked. 'Did you wine and dine me that night on purpose to get me into bed or was it a nice bonus to a night of 'I'm taking my girlfriend out on a nice fancy date night which we don't get too often since we're always working at weird times' plans?'

'How hard would you judge me if I said five percent option A, ninety-five percent option B. I mean, I'm a man after all and there is that part of me that likes sex as a concept on a basic level.'

'I would say good answer.' Winnie stopped with a little jerk at the wrist, turned to look at Spike. 'What?'

'Come here.'

'What-'

The word was barely out of her mouth before she found herself suddenly weightless - Spike had hooked an arm behind her knees to sweep her off her feet and carry her over the threshold of their bedroom. 'Oh...oh Michelangelo, you are giving me the vapours,' she sighed, affecting an exaggerated southern accent.

'I'm gonna give you something else in a minute,' he teased her right back as he dropped her with a light and friendly bounce onto their bed. He ran his hands down her sides, unfastened the snap of her pants and dragged them down her body. 'Mmm, yes, I'm giving you a little extra something to go with that ring. Something...hot, something...all...yours.'

'Michelangelo.' Winnie shifted to kick away her pants, then knelt in the bed as she began to flip open the buttons on his shirt. 'I've been yours since the first time we kissed.'

'That night we came home from the hospital, you-'

'No, I mean the first time we kissed, the one in the photo we had as our matching wallpaper on our cellphones without even know it.' Winnie separated the cotton, licked her lips at the sight of his body, eyes going just a little wide and greedy when her hands coursed down to his belt and she felt him getting hard already. 'I love you so much, Michelangelo. I'm going to make you so happy.'

'I love you right back, Winona, because you already do. Let me show you.'


	4. The Consummation I

_Hello everyone! I feel just rotten I haven't updated recently - there have been many reasons but suffice to say a good heart to heart with **fourbubbles** helped me see the light. Now go grab a cold drink because this NSFW ch will require one!_

* * *

><p>He kissed, taking her cheeks in his hands to frame her face so she was close to him, before running his hands down her back to deepen the kiss while he pulled her hips to his, heat pressed against heat. She tasted as she should on a night like tonight Spike thought, sweet and special but so much like the woman he fell in love with; she was the one he'd ached to make love with for so long that most of his self-love fantasies had been scenarios with Winona Michelle Camden - the woman who had, just hours before, agreed to be his wife.<p>

Tracing a finger up her back, he flicked the hooks of her bra, then sat back on his heels as he watched Winnie give a little shimmy and the silken fabric fell away from her body so she was left in nothing but the matching lace thong which she shoved down her legs to be kicked away with a lazy flick of her foot. Spike watched as she lay back on the bed, slipped her hand down beneath the lace and give a soft little 'oh!', like she was surprised to find herself already getting wet.

'Winona,' he moaned as his arousal for his fiancee grew, 'let me taste you.'

'Finish getting naked,' she moaned back, then let her head thump back on the pillows as she drank in the sight of him getting naked before her. Good god, the man was built, Winnie mused as she licked her lips and let her hands run over her body when she saw him strip off his boxers to see his member standing proudly at attention. 'Oh God, Mike.'

Spike came back to her, gathering her up into his arms, felt her lips attach to his throat where she suckled at his skin; normally a hockey would have embarrassed him but for this he knew the teasing would be worth it. A gentle thrust of his hips, so his tip teased her secretive lips, had her nipples hardening into beautiful caramel pebbles Spike longed to lavish attention on, ans he decided to indulge himself - he licked the pads of his thumbs and dragged them gently over the beautiful peaks.

Winnie felt her breath catch in her throat, thighs going loose and weak. He'd barely touched her and she was already on fire for him. Michelangelo David Scarlatti, love of her life, the man she'd longed for and hadn't realize was right in front of her until that night at the Christmas party had led to months of fantasies she hadn't been able to name in her waking hours - not when he'd given her so much pleasure in her dreams. And those dream were now her reality, sexual pleasures certainly but more the love of a good man who was always at her side and in her heart and who she would proudly call her husband.

Right now, though, she could barely think of anything except his hands. His glorious, sexy working-man's hands were certainly working their magic on her, for she felt everything he did to her in every molecule of her body tonight. She shifted so that her temple rested on his shoulder, letting her kiss his neck as she rocked her hips against his body. His light groan of frustration was music to her ears.

'I'm not trying to tease you, baby,' she murmured in a voice heavy and rusted with pure lust for him, 'It just feels so good for me, you know how much I love the feel of your tip on my trigger while you tease me.'

'I do,' Spike agreed, moving so that she lay beneath him. 'I was on top our first time, right?'

'Yeah and I loved that,' Winnie replied with a little giggle as the dark and sexy thrill of the memory came back to her. 'I loved the feeling of opening my legs for you, to feel you inside me and know that it was perfect. But...'

'But?' Spke prompted her as he trailed tortuously sweet kisses over the swells of her breasts before landing on their tips.

'But...oh yes...oh, God I want you to come inside me tonight.'

'I always do.'

'I mean, just you. Nothing between us but us.'

'Oh.' Understanding her meaning, Spike took her wrist in his hand and kissed her palm before lowering it to wrap around him and work him ever so gently as he laved her nipples; her touch on him barely lasted ten seconds before that same palm was pressing against the back of his head. 'Mmm, you taste so good, Win.'

'Down here tastes even better.' Winnie waited until he'd propped himself to his elbows to slip her hand between her thighs, stroking herself before she lifted her fingertips to her lips and sucking them gently.

Spike thought he was going to pass out at seeing Winnie be so naughty; instead he kissed his way down her body, over the small thatch of dark curls to find her trigger with his tongue. He licked and nipped at her, going slow then fast, fast then slow as he listened to Winnie's loud gasps of delight. He loved this move with her, how her legs moved and writhed, the light touch of her hand on his head to keep him in place, the sound of her voice as she begged him not to stop.

Winnie made no attempt to stay quiet, not tonight, and let out a long thin wail of his name, the vowels drawn out into screaming gasps of delight. She propped herself to her elbows, begging Spike to look at her for just a moment; when he did, she dipped her head to each of her breasts so that she tasted her own nipples, shuddering at the loose, liquid sensation that coursed through her veins. 'Michelangelo, please don't stop, I love when you...when you...you...'

'When I what?' Spike felt the slight tightness of his chest as he anxiously waited to hear the words fall from her lips that trembled ever so slightly.

'When you eat my pussy, baby, it feels so damn fucking good.' Winnie's head whipped side to side, making a groove in the pillow. 'Michelangelo, I wanna feel your tongue- I wanna come with your tongue on my pussy.'

'Fuck me,' Spike muttered as he felt himself practically twitch in excitement; more and more Winnie had become comfortable using that word but he also loved that it was a little teasing game between them. He all but buried his mouth into her, curling and flexing his tongue against her slick lips; he nudged them apart just enough to thrust his tongue inside her, lifting his hand to rub his thumb over her trigger in tandem with his strokes until Winnie was indeed screaming out her orgasm for him. With lightening quick moves, he was on his knees and stroking his member back and forth against her, watching her eyes glaze over before he positioned himself. 'Win, I-'

'I love you so much Michelangelo, I love you, I love you, I love you,' Winnie chanted out.

'I love you right back Winona.'

Then he was filling her with all nine inches of himself, thrusting deep inside to hit the sweet spot he knew made her wild for him. Her eyes glazed over as he moved her legs up around his hips, lifting her hips off the bed so she could feel every last inch of him moving in her body. She clenched around him, each time he drove into her making her scream in dark delight.

Winnie felt certain she couldn't take anymore; how much longer would she last before her psyche shattered entirely in the best possible way? Her hands ran up his back and she gave him a loving little slap after a particular move made her eyes roll back in her head. 'Oh god, oh god, oh god Mike, yes! Yes, oh, yes, keep going, keep going keep...don't stop, oh god yes! Yes! Yes!'

'God, Win, oh, fuck me, just keep fucking me, baby.' Spike said it through gritted teeth as his control began to slip. 'God you're so good! So..so fucking good Win.'

'Keep going, right...right...there! Yes!' Winnie felt the orgasm roll through her like a summer storm, brutally sexy and beautiful, reducing her to nothing but sensation. Everything from the toes up trembled with need and love for her man - her fiance - and she made no effort to keep quiet just how great he made her feel. 'Mike! Yes, yes, oh god oh- yes! Ohhhhhh!'

Winnie's screaming orgasm was music to Spike's ears, a not so subtle signal to him that whatever greasy threads of control he was still holding onto could be relinquished. He pulled her upright so she was in his lap, hips moving like lightning against his as he changed the angle and watched her - his fiancee - come a second time before he just let go and emptied himself inside her.

Spent, twined together in a most beautifully intimate tangle of limbs, Spike lay snuggled up to Winnie, lazily tracing his fingertips over the still-heaving breast whose mate was his current pillow. He could tell from the angle of Winnie's left arm she'd lifted her hand to admire her ring, her right arm draped over his shoulders to keep him close to her heart.

'Mike?'

'Yeah.'

'How long did you have this ring?' Winnie fluttered her fingers so the light from outside their bedroom window made it sparkle. exactly the way she certainly felt all sparkly after making love with equal amounts of dirty and divine.

'That's...that's a scary question.'

'Why?'

'Because the answer could make me look like a needy idiot?' When Winnie simply pinned him with a look, Spike laughed at his hesitancy. 'I got it from my mother when we were in Italy. I knew I wanted to marry you then and Ma knew you were the special one who deserves a family heirloom.'

'You knew even then?'

'Of course I did. I've always known, my love.'

'Michelangelo...' Winnie drummed her fingers on his chest, smiled as she felt herself well up a little more. 'I knew too, that night when you bought me tampons I knew that it was more than just a sweet gesture of a guy trying to be the best boyfriend ever. Which you were, and now you're the best fiance ever. But I...after that moment in the shower, and you let me have some ice cream since I'd stopped throwing up, I thought to myself _I will be the most spoiled pregnant lady ever when he goes on a cravings run_. You are the only man I've ever had that feeling with and I never ever want it to go away.'

'Never ever,' Spike agreed, then sighed deeply as he felt Winnie's hand reach down between their bodies to find him already aroused and wanting more. 'Winnie?'

'Yes?'

'Nothing. I just felt like saying your name. Thinking about how sexy it'll feel to say, this is my wife Winnie.'

'And this is my husband Mike.' Winnie bit her lip as she tried not to giggle. 'How will we tell the difference between us at work? What happens when someone wants Constable Scarlatti and we both answer?'

'A problem for a different day. Right now I'm thinking we should relive that afternoon from Italy and see if there's any ravioli left.'

'Agreed.'


	5. The Shannie Surprise

It turned out that true to his nature as a B&E man, Spike's sense of timing for the proposal turned out to be a great one, for two days after they'd found out about the house and he and Winnie had gotten engaged, December's holiday rush kicked into high gear on all fronts. The crazies of Toronto came out in full force and when they weren't working at all hours to keep up with the flux of various infractions of the law, there was a flurry of dinners from each of the guests at their engagement party who wanted one on one time with Winnie and Spike. Added into that mix getting things ready to begin renovations on the new house in January to be ready in April, Christmas shopping and the usual date nights, and suddenly the invitation to Gabriella's for dinner on the twenty-second wasn't so far away.

'I'm so glad my mother hasn't asked for my help this year, that my sister is there to help her instead,' Winnie laughed as they headed up Royal York Road in the oncoming snow flurry. 'And my sister's friend who came with her from Charleston means an extra set of hands for my mom too.'

'Yeah, about that.' Spike shifted uncomfortably as he slowed behind a snow plow. 'Are we sure this Genny is a friend or is she more of a _friend?'_

'Don't start that again,' Winnie warned him. 'My sister isn't gay.'

'In all the time we've been together I've never heard you once mention a boyfriend or fuck buddy of hers or anything.'

'She is a private person, she rarely even tells Mom those things and they share a brain-stem.'

'I'm just saying you should be prepared for that possibility that she has a sleepover friend who is a double-X chromosome.'

'And I'm just saying if you don't wanna get any this week, keep going down this conversational road.'

Spike parked at Gabriella's behind her silver CR-V and gave her a withering look. 'You really think you can withhold sex that long?'

'Oh that's cute. I meant coffee.' Winnie grinned ferociously at his paled expression. 'That would hit you where you live, wouldn't it?'

'The only time I ever want you to play that dirty is when we are in bed together. You take away my coffee and things will get ugly, my one true love.' Spike gave her a kiss, then popped out of the truck to help with the necessary bags of snacks and gifts, with Winnie following him up the path to the house with a frown of thoughtfulness on her face. Despite her protestations, though the facts Spike had listde did often make Winnie wonder as to whether or not this was a part of her sister she'd missed over the years. Of course, having a sister willing to share those details with anyone other than their mother would help too; just like having a mother would actually respected that some of her conversations with Gabriella were just for them.

As it was an open-door policy night, Winnie opened the door since she was the one with a free hand and called out, 'Hello! Happy Christmas!' to alert her mother of their arrival.

There was the sound of footsteps from the kitchen and Gabriella appeared in kitchen wear - jeans and a comfy tee covered up with her apron that depicted Snoopy and Woodstock decorating the doghouse in tinsel and twinkly lights. Her wildly curly hair was bundled up into a bun on top of her head and her forehead showed smears of flour - not unlike when Winnie wiped her brow in thought while cooking, Spike noted.

'Hello, darlings, Happy Christmas! How was your drive over?'

'Not too bad until we hit Royal York,' Spike replied, depositing the bags containing Secret Santa gifts in the living room. 'Anyone else here yet or did we actually get a Christmas miracle that we're the first ones to arrive?'

'You are the first, and I know you've had a lot to do about the wedding and the house so leave the food to me-' Gabriella took the bag of snacks still in Spike's hand '-and you two head downstairs to just enjoy some time off.'

'Gabriella, really, it's no big deal-'

'Nonsense, I'm the host, I will tell you if I need help,' she reassured him, and spun Spike by the shoulders towards the stairs. 'Shannie and Gen are downstairs watching the hockey game, preliminaries of the World Juniors.'

Winnie felt her stomach do a double clutch - her sister alone with someone who might or might not be a lover; what would they be walking in on? She had every hope and wish that her sister found someone to love but there was still the fear of recriminations her sister would face over her personal life, if indeed Spike was right and this Genny was indeed her sister's girlfriend.

Linking fingers with Spike's freed hand, they headed into the basement family room to solve the mystery once and for all.

The voices reached them first, owing to the L shape jog the stairs did at the base - one being Shannie's and the other male, thick with a Russian accent.

'What for is need to always remind peoples of Russian wins over Finland? They never forget.'

'Yeah, but you have to remember in Canada it's a little different.'

'Is no different than American loss to Canadian team.'

'I suppose.'

Spike reached the bottom of the stairs with Winnie and before he could stop himself muttered, 'My God, your sister's banging Ivan Drago.'

It may have been a cliche but it didn't stop his observation from being terribly accurate - even sitting down it was plain to see the man was at least six and a half feet tall, judging from the way his knees angled so as he sat with Shannie watching the hockey match. He had a shock of blonde hair standing straight up from his head, and his face was strong and Slavic; his jaw could have been made of granite and Spike imagined he could bite through walnuts like cake. Beside him, the equally tall Shannie actually looked delicate and almost tiny.

Then he turned away when Shannie pulled the man's face to hers and gave him a big juicy kiss; beside him he could feel the shock all but radiate off of Winnie. He cleared his throat, which had Shannie's head whipping around and turning as red as the sweater she wore.

'Guess we should have knocked,' Winnie said drily, as the two of them got to their feet. 'I sincerely hope you're Gen.'

'Yeah, this is Gen. Well, Evgeni technically but he goes by Gen.' Shannie all but bubbled over while Gen held out his bear-paw of a hand to Spike. 'Gen this is Winnie and her fiance Mike.'

'Is good to see you in faces Mikhail and Winnie,' Gen greeted them solemnly, a ghost of a smile around his lips while beside him Shannie beamed proudly. 'Shannon is saying so many nice things about sister and future brother.'

'How long have you two been together?'

'Well we've known each other a while, we did our intern years at the same hospital,' Shannie explained, 'and then Gen went on to the big leagues. He's a registered nurse practitioner but he works on the training staff of the Charleston Battery.'

'They just got upgraded to Tier One, as part of the MLS expansion, right?' Spike, ever the soccer fan, felt himself being impressed as Gen nodded once.

'Yes, and players think is funny to call me girls name, but I know is joke.'

'Uh, hello?' Winnie laughed as she went to the mini-fridge in the laundry room where there was always a few bottles of beer; she needed a drink and quickly after getting that type of a surprise. 'My question is unanswered still. When did you two become a thing?'

'After Shannon is returned in the end of September. We went out on the first date, for the dinner and the drinks and then the sex,' Gen said, making a little nod as he rhymed off each activity like it was an item on a grocery. Beside him, Shannie let out an embarrassed squawk.

'Gen! We don't need to tell them that!'

'They are to be married, they know what is like,' Gen defended himself smoothly, making Spike hoot with laughter while Shannie spluttered, 'Ignore him his knowledge of the English language is only like forty-five percent.'

'How...why didn't you tell us before now when we were talking on Skype about the house and getting engaged?' Winnie asked, trying to wrap her head around this turn of events.

'Because that was your moment and I wasn't about to take that away,' Shannie replied, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. 'Besides I kinda wanted to surprise you.'

'Mission accomplished. Is Mom making you sleep apart too?'

'Oh yeah.' Shannie rolled her eyes in annoyance. 'But you never obeyed that rule with him-' she jerked her thumb playfully at Spike '-so now you have to help me figure out how to get around it because unlike you I have to walk past Mom's room to get to my man tonight.'

'Am right here,' Gen pouted stubbornly, brushing his hand over Shannie's hair. 'The sex can wait a night or two.'

'Wrong,' Shannie replied with such conviction that Winnie had no choice but to snicker. 'Seriously, help me out here.'

'Why don't we all have a drink and then we can resume the plotting?'

'In a moment, Spike and I are going to go put our things in our room.' Winnie took Spike's hand, pulled him along with the luggage to the bedroom Spike had slept in just the previous year's Thanksgiving, shut the door before rounding on him. 'Oh my god!'

'Looks like we were both a little right. Your sister's not gay and she did bring home Gen as her lover,' he pointed out which only made Winnie seethe more. 'I know, I know babe, you're steaming because you don't think it's fair that she knows so much and shares so little.'

'Damn right! Why-'

'How about we let this one go for now, you can skin her ass after dinner, huh? I have very little desire to be at a family dinner with a duel of gravy ladles at ten paces.'

'No it won't be that,' Winnie sighed with a little smile as she took out gifts that had been secretly packed in her overnight bag. 'Christmas time makes both us too sentimental.'

'Speaking of sentimental...' Spike looked around the room, then pulled Winnie close. 'A very important first for us happened in this room. I couldn't believe you'd said it aloud, I thought I was dreaming.'

'I was terrified you wouldn't say it back.'

'Never. I love you always and forever,' he told her, giving her a light kiss. 'Now I must go do the time honoured tradition of giving your sister's boyfriend hell.'

'Why is that you job?'

'Because she is going to be my sister too soon.'

'I love you always and forever,' Winnie replied to him, returning the kiss. 'And since I've already got on Aaron teasing my possible new brother is going to be a walk in the park.'


	6. The Family Dinner I

_Hello everyone! No I haven't abandoned you - I've had an avalanche of shit to deal with in my personal life, the very unhappy kind, and I need a break away from writing about characters and a universe that would make me burst into tears because it is so happy and optimistic and the total opposite of what I've been going through the last month. I am back, though, here to entertain you and give myself some type of therapy that doesn't involve running screaming in the streets. As always and forever I wouldn't be able to be here without my intrepid **fourbubbles**. Love love love! Enjoy!_

* * *

><p>By the time Pietr, Rachel and Aaron arrived, the shock of Shannie bringing home a boy to meet the family for Christmas had subdued, even as Winnie felt her own frustration ebb and flow like a river on fast-forward. She knew she and Shannie weren't close, hadn't been since their parents divorced but they had begun to take steps to repair it - did she really expect that with the sudden appearance of Gen that she would be on board with just going with it?<p>

When she said as much to her father while they checked on the turkey, Pietr could only sigh and shake his head. 'Winona, I love you and your sister for the people that you are in the moment and for what you hope to see them grow into. You see them that way too, but that's the mentality of a parent, not a sibling.'

'But Daddy, doesn't it bother you to think that if Mom were the one who'd gotten sick and we'd lost her, that I would never see my sister again except in a lawyer's office?'

'Of course it does,' Pietr replied, silently adding _more than you realize, my dove_, before continuing on, 'but I also know that despite obvious appearances Shannie does indeed love you.'

'Then why is it we are questioning whether Gen is a boy or girl on the way over? Me and Mike,' she explained, detailing the debate she and Spike had held in the car ride to Gabriella's. When she was done, Pietr only chuckled as he tugged on the welding gloves Gabriella liked to use instead of standard oven mitts.

'You and your sister are two very different, very admirable women. You are open with your affection, Shannie is not. Both, one could say, stems from your experiences as children of divorce. You have to remember, Win, you left for university and were out on your own by the time I met Rachel. Your sister was still at home in high school.'

Winnie frowned at that. It was rare for her to forget crucial details like that, but not out of the ordinary when it came to Shannie. 'She was living with Mom then-'

'And my daughter had no desire to see me. Hell, she's barely speaking to me now,' Pietr pointed out, 'and I've come to terms with that.'

'So I should too?' The turkey replaced in the oven, Winnie let the handle slip from her grasp not entirely by accident. 'I just need to be grateful for whatever scraps are thrown my way?'

'Nothing is ever simple in this life, least of all family.'

'Sure it is.'

'How is it you are such a good cop who deals with the grey of everyone's emotions so well, yet you see your entire family in black and white? An interesting feat, I might add since you Shannie and Aaron are all multiracial children.'

'You're so not funny,' Winnie said as she fought the instinct to laugh. She dried her hands on a tea towel, hugged her father around his slightly squishy middle and felt him wince a bit. 'Daddy, you okay?'

'Yeah, just took a racquet ball from Bonnie John earlier today during our regular game. I'm fine, sweetheart,' Pietr reassured her when he saw the scared flash in her eyes; he knew that Winnie took his racquet ball injuries seriously as that was how his cancer was discovered through a routine checkup. 'I just saw Franco last week he said I'm doing great.'

Hearing Doctor Francis Matthews, one of the country's best oncologists whom Pietr affectionately referred to as Franco, had given him a green light made the fist around Winnie's heart unclench. 'Okay. If Franco says so, then okay.'

'Now stop fretting over this shit and enjoy the day. Aaron thinks Gen is hilarious and Rachel and Gabby are already starting to talk wedding plans.'

'Oh no, Daddy.' Sisterly issues forgotten, Winnie felt her eyes pop round and wide. 'Mike and I agreed no wedding talk today, this is family day.'

'Right because everyone at the wedding will be strangers. Mike'Angelo!' Pietr caught sight of Spike walking past the entrance to the kitchen and hollered to him to flag him down. 'What would you say if I told you both your future mother-in-laws are talking about the wedding right now while they enjoy that nice glass of plonk that always seems to broker peace between them?'

Spike blinked on a laugh. 'Plonk?'

'Its our word for homemade wine,' Winnie explained, 'as it's often the sound it makes when it hits the glass since no one in our family has a good hand at making it.'

'Lucky for us Monica shipped us a whole dozen bottles for Christmas.'

'Exactly,' Winnie agreed, moving over to give Spike a hug. Her two favourite men, she thought as Pietr disappeared to find Gen and Aaron and catch the score of the hockey game, healthy and happy and whole for Christmas. 'Wanna go find out what they're talking about?'

'Nah, we can let them think they're being sneaky.' Spike locked his fingers at the small of her back, studied her eyes. 'You okay? I know the whole Shannie secrets thing has knocked you for a loop.'

'It just-'

Her words were cut off with a kiss so sweetly steamy Winnie actually felt her toes curl; Spike grinned when he moved back and saw the stars in her eyes. 'Better?'

'Much. And I'm trying to put it aside, I'm trying to just have a nice dinner with everyone.'

'We will, trust me.'

* * *

><p>The only thing more annoying than a man saying he was right was actually seeing the proof he was, Winnie discovered, for as they sat down to have their lovely roasted turkey dinner complete with two types of gravy, stuffing and even some roasted eggplant for the veggie-saurus Shannie, there wasn't a single snarky word, no underhanded or trite comments. Just people enjoying food, exactly as Winnie prayed it would be.<p>

'Gabby these potatoes are amazing,' Rachel commented with her mouthful; she reached for her wine, pointed at her plate with her fork. 'Is it a family secret or can you tell me how you do this?'

'Fifty-fifty. I use butter, eighteen percent cream and a dash of parsley and chive. How to get them this fluffy, that's between me and the potatoes,' Gabby replied on a grin, while Aaron rolled his eyes at Gen.

'This is what happens when you have a mom and sort-of stepmom who both like to cook.'

'Mumsie did you make butter tarts?' Shannie asked as she doused her vegetarian offerings in vegetarian gravy, something that never failed to amuse Spike. For all her espousing of healthy eating habits and organic natural principles 'vegetarian gravy' was something cooked up in a food science lab and it always seemed to escape Shannie's notice the hypocrisy of the whole thing.

'I did indeed.'

'Please to explain, what is a tart of butter?' Gen asked as he searched for the yams and was passed them by Spike. 'Thank you Spike-Angelo.'

'A butter tart is a Canadian dessert, like a tart-' Aaron demonstrated by forming index fingers and thumbs into a circle the diameter of a hockey puck '-and the filling is made with butter, brown sugar, eggs and if you want you can add in walnuts or raisins.'

'Why would you ruin a perfectly good butter tart with junk like that?' Pietr asked, and earned a smile from Shannie.

'Thank you, Dad, exactly, why why why?'

'Note to self, no wedding cake with raisins or nuts,' Spike told Winnie, then glanced around when he saw the rest of the table perk up like hunting dogs scenting the fox.

'Speaking of the wedding...' Gabby and Rachel shared an excited look. 'We had an idea for where you might like to have it.'

'Centre Island has some beautiful parks and bridges, ideal for wedding pictures and an outdoor location, and we know you guys would probably want a wedding in late summer early fall since those tend to be the times when you are in between holiday crazy rushes as cops.'

'Actually...' Spike looked at Winnie, sent her a wink as he patted her hand. 'We've decided on next October...in Italy.'

'Italy?' The word came out as a chorused gasp of varying degrees of excitement from everyone at the table, and Spike felt Winnie tense beside him, holding her breath as she waited for the inevitable spew of reasons why it wouldn't work. Instead Gabriella, Rachel, Aaron and Shannie all clapped their hands in glee.

'You'll have the paperwork filed here and then the ceremony there, is that right?'

'I'll get out of doing midterm studying!'

'Nice try young man. That means we will get to meet some of your family, right, since it's a destination wedding?'

'I can get my attending to teach me a few travel phrases!'

Winnie looked to her father, whose look said it all - whatever the superficial differences, at crunch time our family is a family. 'We talked about it last week and we will start planning it after the renovations start on the new house in January.'

'We've already started a wedding savings fund,' Spike added, knowing that money was always the number one red-button topic in Winnie's family. 'And October will give us enough time to plan in advance what we want.'

'I understand the sentimental value of Italy, but wouldn't it be easier to have them come here?' Rachel asked. 'We have more than enough space to save on a hotel and-'

'The one thing I promised my mother about the wedding is that it would be a church wedding,' Spike gently interrupted, knowing his rationale was a solid one for their plans. 'And Winnie suggested that since there are fewer of our people here to fly to Italy than to have them come to us, why don't we do the church thing right and get married in my family's historical parish?'

'Five generations of Scarlatti marriages have taken place in this church, Mom,' Winnie explained, 'and my ring was present at every one of those weddings.'

'Then that's what you do,' Gabriella said in the way Spike and Winnie both knew meant whatever was spoken was a done deal. 'Who will you be inviting from here to go there?'

'Team One and families, Dottie and Raf, Boss and Marina, that's...' Spike tilted his head from side to side. 'Twenty people. My family in Italy is easily double that. I have a lot of cousins.'

'Should you need any help with the airfare, I'm always glad to lend a hand,' Pietr offered, and to Spike's amazement Winnie smiled and nodded.

'Thanks Daddy.'

'Are you drunk?' he asked his fiancee which earned a ripple of laughter from the rest of the table.

'No, just thinking about how flights for that many people will be more than the whole wedding combined.'

'Will there be enough space for the families and the singles?' Gabriella inquired. 'Or will we need a hotel?'

As the wedding talk continued around them, across the table Winnie saw her sister clench her jaw at the phrase 'singles' before mouthing the words _help me.  
><em> 'I think the farm will have plenty of of space for couples, Mom, and families too.'

Winnie saw Shannie do it again - _help me _ - and picked up the bottle of Spike's family brew. 'More wine, Mom?'


	7. The Step Forward

The next morning, blissfully relaxed from the previous night's tender lovemaking with her man, Winnie rose and dressed in her colour-cordinated sleep clothes to go find something to eat. Mornings after with Spike always made her hungry, thank god she was burning the calories through yummy sexy times. Especially when they were the result of putting on some rather festive and saucy holiday lingerie for him; briefly Winnie wondered if Shannie had gotten the chance to sneak out and work her own magic on Gen.

Wondering if it would disturb anyone else to make a skillet bowl with their Christmas dinner leftovers, Winnie pulled up short when she saw her sister sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and her tablet. 'Oh, uh, hi. Didn't know you were still awake.'

'I am, but Mom is decidedly not.' Shannie sent her a sly grin. 'Went to bed last night saying she'd had way too much of that delicious Italian wine. Wonder how that happened?'

'A true wonder.' Shannie winked, raised her coffee cup in a toast. 'Thank you.'

'Consider it payback for last year when you didn't rat me out for snuggling up with Mike.'

'Why _is_ he called that? A nicknamed earned for a certain body part?'

'Yeah, his hairstyle as a rookie,' Winnie replied, then after a beat added, 'thought the other obvious joke isn't untrue either.'

'Gen told me he's okay with his nickname because his father raised horses in the motherland and his papa's prized stud stallion was named Geno. That's not an obvious joke that's untrue either.'

They shared a good giggle over it as Winnie turned on the kettle for tea, Pietr's words coming back to her. It rarely occurred to her that Shannie was the same age as Dottie, they were so different. Stress had aged her sister that when she behaved as someone who was thirty-two should it seemed immature on the good doctor. 'I wish it were like this all the time. Or at least more often.'

'What?'

'Us, talking like this, sisters giggling about boys, sharing things instead of-'

'Hairbrushes at ten paces?' Shannie asked, then shrugged. 'Phones work both ways, so do Skype calls and email, even crossing the forty-ninth parallel. Why should I be the one to always have to reach out?'

'Because you being so tight with Mom left very little room in your life for anyone else to compete.'

'Not my fault you sided with our cheating bastard of a father. Mom needed someone, you'd left so it was up to me.'

Shaky ground, Winnie knew, as Shannie had convinced herself that their father was a cheater which had made the divorce easier for her fifteen year old self to bear. Seventeen years of that concrete perception would not vanish over a winter morning's breakfast. Instead Winnie opened the fridge to find the wrapped platters of turkey, potatoes, sweet corn before finding the cast iron in the drawer of the stove. 'Just because I have a relationship with Dad and you don't is no reason to cut me out.'

'Just because I have one with Mom is no reason to make me the enemy.'

'And here we are again.' Winnie shook her head. 'Why is our relationship dictated by our parents? Why can't we make it for ourselves? Why does everything between us have to come down to who we have a better relationship with because of their choices? Choices, I might add that were best for everyone involved.'

'Not for Mom, not for us. He just wanted to dump us for Rachel, the hot white younger model and I had to watch Mom pick up the pieces while you were at school making friends with her replacement. That's not an easy burden to carry at fifteen.'

'Mom wasn't replaced. You know the only reason they got married was because of me, and that's a burden I've carried my entire life.' When Shannie winced as though she'd been slapped, Winnie tilted her head to the side. 'You knew that didn't you?'

Shannie blinked as though Winnie were an alien apparition. 'No, no you were made before the wedding because Mom was told she couldn't have kids so the doctor said start trying as soon as you can if you want a family.'

_Fuck_, was all Winnie could think; she shook her head as she watched the levels of it pass over her face. 'No, Shan, I wasn't. Mom and Dad had been on the outs and then Mom found out she was pregnant so Dad kept her from losing her relationship with Nana and Poppy and married her.'

'No, that's...no, our mother wouldn't do that, she always told us that she and Dad got married because they were in love and wanted to be married before you were born.'

'Which was true.'

Shannie and Winnie looked over by the door way, saw the very hungover Gabriella in the door way, her hands knotting through the belt of her robe. 'Pietr and I did want to be married before Winnie was born. We just-'

'Lied to me for my entire life?'

'Left out weights that weren't yours to bear when you had already taken on so much grief from the divorce. Pietr and I split up because no matter how hard we tried, the life we'd built around our children was coming to an end.' Gabriella went to Shannie, who had begun to silently weep and hugged her tight. 'Bunny, don't cry.'

'Too late,' Shannie warbled, using the terry cloth sleeve of Gabriella's robe to wipe her eyes clear but to no avail as the tears kept rolling out.

For a long while, the only sound heard in the kitchen was Shannie's quiet grief as she poured from her while Gabriella did her best to explain how her belief of infidelity was easier to cope with than the reality that the man she'd made her children with wasn't who she should have married, and that she clung to it so hard it spilled over into the daughter who was still so young and impressionable yet so mature for her age. Her father, it turned out, was right - Winnie had been judging her to a much harsher standard than she really needed; what worse medicine was there than to see a parent was right?

When Shannie's sobs drifted away to mere sniffles, Winnie braced herself and waited for the assault she knew was shortly to be hurled her way. Instead, Shannie gave her a baleful stare out of red-rimmed eyes and hiccoughed magnificently. 'I...need some time alone with Mom, please, Win.'

'Of course.'

'Win?'

'Yeah.'

'I know you didn't mean to do it. Just...I need time alone with Mom.'

Appetite lost for the food in the skillet, Winnie nodded and turned off the stove and headed for the stairs; she didn't know if the feeling of need for Spike was comfort or self-pity. She just knew she needed to hold onto him for a little while.

Winnie stopped short when she saw him sitting at the base of the stairs - one look at his face told her that he'd heard every letter of the conversation with Shannie in the kitchen. Without a word she sat down beside him, propped her head on his shoulder as he took her hand. 'It's not your fault, Win,' he murmured.

'Yes it is.'

'Family secrets like that surface sooner or later. Maybe this is your Christmas miracle, that this happened so you and your sister can repair things.'

'That's happened a lot in my family since September,' Winnie commented, making Spike chuckle.

'Come on, why don't we get a nice hot shower, I can give you a massage if you like, and if you feel the need to take out whatever you're feeling on my body, well...as a future husband I know there are times when my future wife just needs me to be her sex slave.'

'Like that's a chore for you,' Winnie teased him, the tight of her throat easing at his mock-self-sacrificing tone. 'You always like when I'm on top.'

'Easier to play with your boobs and make you come harder that way,' Spike joked, 'but I like you underneath me too...and in front of me...whether you're facing me or I'm taking you from behind.'

He planted a little kiss on her neck, a tiny innocent peck and Winnie felt tears rush to her eyes. Standing with her hand still in his, she tugged him to his feet. 'Go get our towels.

A while later, after Winnie had indeed used her man for some sweetly needed relief of tension, she and Spike were packing up the gifts they'd received from the previous night's gift exchange; Spike being a smart man knew his beloved inside and out, knew that she needed a little quiet understanding to sort out her thoughts so that what she said was healing rather than harmful.

'Maybe you're right,' she said on a lengthy sigh, 'maybe this is a chance for some old wounds to heal.'

'Maybe your sister can talk to your dad, they could reach some understanding that goes beyond a special family event, like Christmas dinner,' Spike agreed.

'Or a wedding.'

Spike and Winnie both looked over to see Shannie standing in the doorway of their room, bumping the tips of her fingers together in a way very similar to what Gabriella often did when she had something stuck in her craw too heavy to swallow and too bitter to stay in much longer. 'Shan, hi. Did you and Mom talk? Are you okay?'

'We talked and...I suppose I understand _why_ but...but it's not easy to feel this way, to feel like-'

'The one person you should be able to count on unconditionally isn't there to break the fall?' Winnie finished for her, saw the look in her sister's eyes and knew that whatever Shannie and her mother still had to work out, the rift between them had finally begun to heal. 'I've lived that way for a long time too. Good friends, a good man, therapy they all help.'

'I have Gen, I have friends, I don't need or want therapy. UNless it is the choco-tastic variety.'

'That's where you and Gen can burn calories together,' Winnie teased her, making Shannie smile.

'If you have time, I...Gen and I don't fly out until the night of the thirty-first. Will you have time for us to have dinner? The four of us, you me Gen and Mike.'

'That sounds really-'

'You're not gonna make me and that poor Russian stag eat bird food, are you?' Spike asked in a teasingly terse tone that kept the tears he saw sparkling in both Camden ladies' eyes from spilling over. 'Man does not live on portabello mushroom alone.'

'There's a really nice cafe Dad told us about last night that I think will do just fine.'

'Sounds good.' After a faltering moment, Winnie went over and gave Shannie a hug. 'Text me the details and we'll work it out.'

'Okay.'

Once Shannie was gone again, Winnie turned to Spike smiling proudly; taking his cheeks in her hands she planted her lips lightly on his 'Looks like you were right, my love.'

'Oh?'

'Yeah. Christmas miracles really do happen.'


	8. The Aaron Confession

'It was just unreal, Rachel, really. I never thought I'd see the day when Shannie and Winnie would have a moment like that.'

Spike leaned forward from the SUV's backseat to better talk to Rachel as the two of them waited for Pietr to pay for Christmas Eve pizza and Winnie used the loo following their attendance at Spike's five o'clock mass of choice. Aaron had bargained that he would do all the dishes for Christmas Day if he could have the house for some alone-time on the twenty-fourth with Devon, his new girlfriend. Neither Spike nor Winnie had met the girl yet but from listening to Rachel and Pietr she was the polar opposite of Lucia, a fact which made both his parents incredibly happy.

'I'm glad for her. Maybe with everything being in the open now, Shannie and Pietr will have a chance to mend some rifts, maybe Aaron and Shannie can even start to build a relationship.' Rachel gave a short sigh, glanced at her watch in such a way that made Spike roll his tongue over his teeth. 'He certainly has a way with charming young ladies.'

'Aw, Mom, you worried your boy's up to no good?'

'It's not that I'm worried about him, I just think it's a heady mix for a young man with a new love to be left on his own for so long.'

'When I was growing, I had a girlfriend and we'd always go to her house because her mama worked until five every day like clock work so we knew exactly how long we had for play time before-'

'Shut up right now Constable,' Rachel warned him with a smile, and Spike saw her shoulders slump in relief once they both saw Pietr and Rachel leaving the pizzeria to get in the car for home. 'Winona please remind this Italian romantic my son isn't using the time without us present to get in his girlfriend's pants?'

'And please remind your stepmother Aaron probably isn't having wild hot manic sex with his girlfriend, he probably just got under her sweater a little,' Spike replied just as smoothly, loving to see how the perpetually cool and calm Rachel was all but ready to blow a gasket.

'No comment,' Winnie replied, gritting her teeth together as she caught the smiles from Pietr and Spike. 'My name's Paul and this is between y'all.'

'Quoting Tarantino won't get you out of this one,' Spike teased her; but as Pietr drove home he found his thoughts wandering towards Aaron, and the giddy look on his face that they were all leaving and that his girlfriend would be alone with him. He'd seen that look on his own face plenty of times in the mirror in the SRU locker room when he was on his way to see Winnie, and it made him concerned that he was seeing it reflected in the face of a boy not even old enough to drive yet.

Perhaps he'd be able get Aaron unpeeled from his girl long enough to ask him just what the hell was going on.

Upon reaching the house, Spike helped Winnie and Pietr carry in the two large pizzas and accoutrements for their Christmas Eve feast as he tried to get himself out of his head. He wanted to meet the girl and like her, not assume she was an innocent little birdie that Aaron couldn't wait to prey on.

THen he'd decide if he'd sit Aaron down for a little bro-chat.

When they walked in, the first thing Spike heard was the noise of _Charlie Brown Christmas_' opening song accompanied with twin laughs of delight. Looking to the right, where the main floor family room lay he saw Aaron and a beautiful young lady of about the same age flaked out on the L-shaped couch so they were head to head, a mammoth-sized bowl of popcorn between them providing a snack. 'Hey, loverboy,' he called out, 'come help with the food.'

Aaron craned his neck, sat up as he realized it was Spike speaking to him; hitting pause he got to his feet and tugged his girlfriend to her feet. 'Don't be nervous, they're really cool,' he told her in a low voice at the feel of her tense fingers in his as they headed for the kitchen just a few steps behind Spike and Winnie. 'Hey guys, how was church?'

'Not bad, I like the songs,' Winnie replied as she washed her hands, found plates. 'You gonna let your lady just stand there like a garden gnome or be a gentleman and make the intros?'

'Right, sorry. This is Devon Pescador, Devon this is my sister Winnie and her fiance Mike but we call him Spike.'

Standing in the light of the kitchen, both Spike and Winnie had to agree on looks alone Aaron's taste had improved exponentially. The girl was beautiful with a sun-kissed complexion, hair in shades of chestnut and copper styled in a twenties-era pin-straight bob, and deep azur blue eyes. She grinned as she shook their hands, showing off a mouth full of braces with elastics in green and red.

'Hi, nice to meet you,' she said with just the tiniest hint of a lisp that Winnie recognized as being the after-effects of a recent orthodontic appointment having been through it herself. 'Aaron talks about you all the time.'

'Does he?'

'Uh-huh, both of you, he said he can't wait for the wedding and he really wants to see you guys in action again, although not like you were last fall. That was just scary.'

'Oh well-'

'Do you have to learn how to dismantle all those bombs as an officer or do you get picked for the SRU and then go into training for it?' Devon barreled on as she helped unpack the garlic bread, the cesar salad, the buffalo chicken bites with bleu cheese dip, unstacked the plates that Winnie had fetched from the counter before whirling to the fridge and retrieving the jugs of homemade Christmas punch. 'Or is it a little of both? How do you tell which type of bomb it is, can you tell just by looking at it and-'

'Aaron, kiss her before my ears fall off,' Spike joked with a wink at Devon who grinned while she poured the blend of ginger-ale and cranberry juice; Aaron being an obliging fellow, gave Devon a quick peck on the cheek. 'You mind going through that list one more time?'

'It's okay, my mama teases me I like to barrel over people to get them interested in starting a conversation by zip-lining them. What kinds are we serving?'

Devon looked up and down the three boxes that put Winnie in mind of an eager little puppy awaiting feeding time on the farm, an image which made her giggle. 'We've got pepperoni on wheat crust, bacon onion on wheat, and mushroom and onion on white. What's your pick?'

'Hmm, well how about I take a small slice of each and decide which one I want a second of?'

'Good call,' Spike agreed, noting the way Aaron did the same even though he shared his sister's distrust of mushrooms on pizza. True love, he thought, came in all forms. He also noted the way Aaron hung back as the rest of the family filtered into the living room to unpause Charlie Brown. 'Something on your mind there, bro?'

'Yeah, uh...about...about Devon.'

'She's quite the girl, and a hell of a mouth on her.' Spike pursed his lips, lowered his voice. 'She, ah, trying to use that mouth on you?'

Aaron flushed red as the punch he poured into the glass he'd dawdled to look for. 'Yeah, and...and I want her to but...but not yet.'

'Sounds like there's a story there,' Spike commented placidly though his heart was pounding in his chest like a war drum. 'Care to share it?'

'So uh, you know Lucia and I split up in the summer right? It wasn't because we weren't doing stuff, I mean we were but-'

'She take your V?'

'What? Oh, god no! No, no no, I ain't interested in doing that until I'm old enough to know how to handle it. One of my buddies from soccer, he told me how you can get satisfied without getting inside but Lucia...she pushed me into doing some stuff I just didn't wanna do. And Devon knows I dated Lucia so she knows that stuff happened with-'

Spike merely held up his hand to cut Aaron's rambling short like he'd flicked a switch. 'What stuff happened? You taste her honeypot? She give you a blow job? A hand job? You feel her up without her bra?'

'All except the first one,' Aaron admitted, his cheeks losing their flame of embarrassment as he saw the look on Spike's face of seasoned understanding. 'But she got annoyed when I didn't like it because I didn't want her doing it. She was just doing it for herself not because she wanted me to make her feel good and vice-versa. It...it wasn't really fun and I didn't feel that thing I do now with Devon.'

'Let me guess. Devon knows what you and Lucia had going physically and thinks she needs to keep up?' At Aaron's nod, Spike folded his lips together, thought about how to speak his mind without scaring the boy bloodless like he was Devon's own daddy. 'Is she...has she...before?'

'No, and that's why I like her, because she isn't trying to make me do stuff I don't wanna do.'

'But?'

Aaron sighed, took a drink of his punch much in the same way most grown men would down whiskey. 'She put her hands down my pants earlier, and I panicked and I said she didn't have to do that for me to like her. She...she freaked out a little and looked like she was gonna cry. I told her I really liked her because she wasn't like Lucia, she didn't need to do something like that just to make me happy and she calmed down a little but she's still nervous. How do I fix it?'

Boggy ground, Spike thought. 'You reassure her that you really do like her, maybe give her a little kiss to comfort her.'

'Isn't kissing supposed to get you hot?'

'When you've had a scare and your mom kisses your forehead does that get you hot?' Spike asked him; at Aaron's spluttering he went on, 'It's the tone of the gesture, like you said before with Lucia just wanting to use you. Devon needs to feel from you that you're not just looking for a quick shag. You get her a Christmas gift? A nice one?'

'Yeah, earrings, these cute silver studs with number twenty-four for Miguel Cabrera. She's a Tigers fan,' Aaron explained with a smile which Spike returned.

'See, she'll know you care with a gift like that.' He waited the requisite beat. 'A Tigers fan? Seriously?'

'No-one's perfect, but she comes pretty damn close.'

'Sounds like it.' Spike offered his knuckles as a way to confirm his bro-code of silence. 'Let's go find out which pizza your girl and mine like best.'


	9. The Winnie Advice

Despite everyone being cuddled up while watching _Holiday Inn_, even Pietr and Rachel sharing the armchair and a blanket, Winnie could sense her brother had something on his mind. Same with Devon; it was part of the fun of being a cop who was as much a shrink as a bad-ass protector of Toronto and its suburbs. Rather than push it, as she could tell that Spike and Aaron had had a sharing moment in the kitchen, she bided her time until Devon volunteered to go get refills of drinks.

She noted the way the girl moved, on the surface flighty but there was an efficiency of the back and forth, and smiled. 'You know those glasses aren't like the ones in _Beauty and the Beast_ where they have their own sentience, right?'

'Yeah, just...I think better when I occupy my hands.'

'About what? School, family, my brother?' Winnie gave her a sweet smile as she flipped on the kettle to make tea, a tactic she'd learned from both her mother and father. 'I'm a good listener, I have the cop street-cred to prove it.'

'I...I did something really dumb with him tonight. Not sex,' she added in her hummingbird-lightning way, 'but I made a move on him and he didn't like it. I know who his ex-girlfriend is, what kind of rep she has and I figured...I thought...I was doing something to make him happy but instead I embarrassed him and now I look like a needy slut.'

'I sincerely doubt if Aaron thought you were like that we wouldn't have come home to you two cuddled up with popcorn and cartoons,' Winnie pointed out, which made Devon laugh. Tilting her head to the side, she asked, 'Have you guys talked about stuff like that yet?'

'We've only been together since like Hallowe'en, and the most that happens is that we kiss and he...umm...'

'He what?' Winnie prompted her; treating her like a subject made it easier to hear what Devon said when the man involved was her own brother.

'I can feel...it...get hard when I sit in his lap and it feels nice to know I make him feel that way...but I can't do what him and Lucia did yet, but I don't wanna lose him to some other girl who is.'

'Ah, a timeless female conundrum. As someone who went through some bad boyfriends, bad as in why the hell did I let that loser touch my naked body why didn't I have more self-respect, I can offer a single piece of advice that I wish someone had told me.'

'What's that?'

'Talk to him and tell him what you like or don't like.'

Devon looked at Winnie, calmly selecting individually wrapped tea bags to make a selection plate for the entire room. 'Really? That's your big advice? Talk to him and tell him what I like?'

'Intuition only goes so far before proper words are really needed. Let's say you're grocery shopping and he wants to make you dinner, how will he make an unforgettable meal if you don't tell him that you love carrots but not celery and are allergic to peanuts? Is it better to have him find out when you're in the ER with anaphylactic shock?'

'Does it really work the same way for sex stuff?'

'Sure does. Ah.' Winnie's hand paused on the cabinet door, turned back to look at Devon who suddenly seemed so fragile and shy. 'What experience do you have with boys?'

'Aaron is my first real boyfriend, we've kissed and I've let him touch my boobs-'

'With or without a bra?' Winnie narrowed her eyes momentarily when Devon blushingly admitted to both. 'Below the belt?'

'Nuh-uh, except that unfortunate moment tonight,' Devon sighed, sinking onto one of the bar stools that crowded one side of the marble-topped island. 'I guess...I guess if I'd just asked that moment could have been avoided, huh?'

'What did you do?'

As Devon recounted the tale while Winnie selected mugs for everyone, she nodded patiently and only opened her mouth once the young woman was done. 'So let me see if I have this straight. You made a move on him and he said you didn't need to do that, that he enjoys spending time with you and not just for sex-stuff but because you have common interests like sports and music. He doesn't want you to feel used by him nor does he want to make you uncomfortable and he told you that himself.'

'Pretty much, yeah.'

'Don't you think that if he is willing to be that upfront with you about his feelings he deserves the same from you?'

'Well...yeah, I mean, I really like him. I spent more time picking out his Christmas gift than I did for my brother.'

'What did you get him?'

'A Dutch national football jersey, the ones like they'll use next summer for World Cup.' Devon gave a little grin. 'He looks really cute in orange.'

'He does. Hell, he looked like a little toffee dipped orange when Rachel dressed him up as a baby. Anyways.' Winnie picked up the tray with the pot of hot water, the lemon and cream and sugar she'd arranged while spelling it out for Devon. 'Why don't you two talk in here for a moment?'

'In here, but-'

'Leave it to me.'

With that, Winnie headed for the family room, sent Aaron a look. 'Why don't you go give Devon a hand bringing in mugs?'

Aaron, being no dummy, saw the slight arch of his sister's eyebrow and beat a hasty path into the kitchen; Spike being no soft-boiled egg either gave her a considering look of his own. 'What's all that about?'

'Tell you later.'

* * *

><p>True to her word, after Devon and Aaron had done their gift exchange and Pietr had offered to drive Devon home, Winnie let Spike in on how she'd offered advice to Devon which had him smiling and nodding as she stripped off her sweater, went for the button of her pants while he lit the candle on the bedside table to bring the gentle earthy fragrance of sage and citrus into the roo..<p>

'Winona, it's why I love you so much, that however much the idea of Aaron having a sex life freaks you out you don't want him to be unhappy or do something foolish.'

'He deserves a good girl in his life, someone who will love him as he is and not make him change his morals for a good time.'

Spike, already down to his boxers, slid into bed to admire the view as Winnie bent to tug off her cozy woollen socks that were in sharp contrast to the silk-cotton blend of her pine-green lingerie. 'You love your brother just as much as you love your sister, albeit in very different ways. I never really understood what that meant until tonight.'

'What do you mean?'

'Being an only child and having a future wife whose family is as colourful in drama as yours is rather eye opening as to how parents adjust their attitudes with each child. Makes me wonder if I would be capable of having more than one without playing favourites.'

'Two things.' Winnie unsnapped her bra, gave a quick shimmy of shoulders to loosen it from her body before tugging her sleep-shirt over her head. 'First, quit staring at my nightie with disappointment you'll get to play with my boobs soon enough.'

'I thought that was the two things,' Spike teased her, earning a swat as she snuggled in beside him. 'Alright, alright, what's the other thing?'

'Actually that wasn't either of them. First, I love that you use future wife instead of fiancee.'

'Fiancee feels degrading, somehow, it...it's old-fashioned and weird like...' Spike toyed with a lock of her hair. 'Remember that moment in _Titanic_ when Rose tries to stand up to Cal and he loses his shit because he sees her being his fiancee as making her his property? I prefer future wife because it just feels better.'

'You do realize that film is set a century ago, don't you?'

'Yeah, yeah, but the sentiment's the same.' Spike took her shoulder to turn her so he could see her eyes when he spoke. 'Promise me you'll never ever refer to yourself as Missus Michelangelo Scarlatti.'

There was something so earnestly urgent in his voice that Winnie wouldn't have dared to disagree with him. 'What about if I'm Winona Michelle Scarlatti, Lady Scarlatti at work to distinguish us?'

'Lady Scarlatti. That sounds like either a cookie mascot or a madam in antebellum Louisiana, I can't decide which,' Spike teased her, making Winnie bat lightly at his shoulder with her fist. 'Or perhaps she is a plainclothes deputy of an old west town, like Wyatt Earp, and she keeps a pistol in her knickers to peg off miscreants at high noon.'

'Then goes home to her law-abiding husband who treats her like a real woman, lets her ride him like a circus pony?' Winnie flicked the tip of her finger over Spike's lower lip. 'Or like a man who loves a strong woman on top?'

Spike responded by kissing her deeply, fingers twisting through her hair as his tongue traced the outline of her lips. He rolled atop her, letting his body to sink into her curves, fighting at the sleep-shirt she wore; it quickly went sailing over his shoulder and he filled his hands with her breasts. His perfect handful, he thought, as he felt the warm wet cradle between her thighs stir his arousal for his one and only love. 'Win,' he moaned, 'what was thing two?'

'Later,' was all she could manage as Spike's thumbs found her nipples, gently rolling them to make wave after wave of gentle pleasure roll through her body which made Winnie writhe and sigh in a way that let Spike know how precious she felt herself to be. 'Mike, my love, use your mouth between my thighs, I want to come for you.'

'I'd rather you come for me as I fill you, my love, so I can see your eyes when we're joined together,' Spike murmured to her and Winnie smiled as her palm brushed his cheek.

'I love the look in your eyes when you slip into me.' Winnie let out a little gasp as she felt him do just that, smiled at him with nothing but pure love. 'Yes, that one right there, Michelangelo. My angel. My perfect love. You have my heart.'

'You have mine.'

They moved together, a single entity in the gentle light of the candle that brought quiet heat into the room to match theirs. When they climbed up and over the edge, forming a perfect union of the body and soul, it was with the knowledge each was truly treasured by the other. Still entwined fifteen minutes later, Spike stroked his palm up and down Winnie's back as they lay side by side in their bed.

'Win?'

'Yeah.'

'It's after midnight. Looks like we began our Christmas together as we do most big things in our lives,' he said on a lightly amused laugh.

'It seems appropriate since that's how life begins anyways.'

'Merry Christmas Winona.'

'Merry Christmas Mike'


	10. The Christmas Love

The following morning, Winnie woke up itchy with need for Spike. Not that it hadn't been hot the night before - it was always hot with her one true love - but right now she needed that deep down feeling that she had been fucked by her man good and properly.

And Winnie knew just how to get what she wanted while giving Spike what he called the best wake-up call ever created.

As Spike invariably slept on his back unless sick, Winnie lifted the sheets to see indeed her man had his morning wood at full strength. Straddling him and rocking her hips to get her already-humming system kicked out of first gear into a heady second, she leaned down to kiss him, murmuring in his ear, 'Merry Christmas Michelangelo, wanna play a little game of hide the candy cane?'

'That...' Spike sighed on a smile as his eyelids fluttered open to the glorious sight of Winnie on top of him naked with the saucy look in her eyes that said she wanted it badly from him. 'That is not one of your better lines, my love.'

'I know but when I'm this horny for you, I'm lucky to remember my own name,' she replied in a sultry tone, her voice thick already with lust for him. 'Unless you'd rather wait just have some coffee or hot chocolate.'

'You are my hot chocolate.'

'And you're my spicy caramel.'

Spike grinned, pushed himself up so Winnie was seated in his lap, the warm welcome of the secretive lips between her thighs making him twitch; he felt her shiver in excitement as he licked the pads of his thumbs before he cupped her breasts with his thumbs rolling over the points. 'Mmm, Win, did you wake up wet or what?'

'Yes, actually I did.' Shifting so she opened wider for him Winnie licked her lips and let her head fall back on her shoulders as Spike's lips found her collarbone and made their way south towards the slopes of her breasts. She let out a little gasp as she felt his tongue caress the valley between them, leaned back to offer herself up for his feasting pleasure. Her gasp turned into a pleasured groan when he rolled his tongue over her pebble-hard nipples one at a time; the fact he didn't use fingers or thumb on its mate at the same time only heightened the tease for her. 'I woke up feeling like if I didn't have you right now I was just going to lose my mind.'

'Let's fix that, shall we?'

Spike grinned as he suckled at her breasts, juicy and ripe as summer peaches, moving his hands to pull her hips tight against his so he could grind his hard-on against her body and tip her backwards on the bed so she was pinned beneath him, his own private sexual banquet. He needed nothing else in this moment, just his sexy loving woman. He could smell the sweet slick scent of her, felt it against his member as she writhed beneath him. 'Mmm, what would my nice girl like to do to get naughty this morning?'

Winnie slid her middle finger into her mouth, smiled as she let it slip out. 'This-' she brushed her moistened finger over his mouth '-here,' she replied as she slipped that same finger down between her thighs, into her own vault. It was a move she loved to use wen she was having playtime for one when Spike was on shift or just out and she couldn't wait for him to be home. She loved to touch herself for him as well, but saved that move for when she was in a move to be extra x-rated for him. She arched her back as she pleasured herself for him, moaning deeply if quietly, so as not to arouse the suspicion of the rest of the household.

'Wanna try it out?' she breathed, and Spike nodded involuntarily; he gently took her wrist and lifted the fingers that had touched her own body so intimately and gently licked them clean.

'You taste so sweet, Winona.'

'You- oh!'

Winnie's head thumped back on the bed as Spike's hands found the backs of her thighs, lifting her legs so the back of her knees rested against his shoulders and his tongue began to lap at her, feasting as though she really did have honey flowing in and out of her body. He kept his lips still against hers while his tongue drove her mad; a quick flick his eyes upwards let him see Winnie's head rolling side to side as her hips rose and fell. Good, he thought absently, hot and ready for it but not so close to the edge that she would shoot over it wit a single thrust once he was inside her. He suckled, licked, swirled, went side to side and backwards with such a pace and tempo that her hand found the back of his head as a steadying point for her wracked system.

'Mike,' she moaned, 'look at me, my love.'

He did so, and nearly lost his mind when he saw Winnie caress her own breasts, then bend her head so she could flick her tongue over one still-hard nipple then the other. 'So hot how you touch yourself for me, Win.'

'I love being naughty for you.' Winnie did it twice more as Spike lowered his mouth to her honey-pot once more, then letout a strangled gasp. 'Oh-ohhh god! Oh!'

''You like that, my love?'

'Uh-huh, please...please do it again, Mike.'

Spike smiled, dragged her thumb over her trigger as he used his other hand to spread her lips and spear his tongue inside her. 'Mmm, I'm...ready...for...your... wet...hot...welcome, my love.'

'Me too.' The vowels were elongated and Winnie was certain if she didn't orgasm soon she'd go blind from pure need to feel Spike bury himself inside her. 'Please...please...I want you inside me, I wanna feel you come deep inside me, Mike.'

'Yes.' There was no other place Spike loved to be in the world than joined with his red-hot sexy Wonder Woman. Rising to his knees, Spike pulled her up from the bed so he could kiss her; it never escaped him just how hot it was she would do so and taste herself on his lips. 'You wanna be on top?'

'No, I wanna be on the bottom, I wanna feel you hot and hard inside me, I wanna...' Winnie's word were lost in a spate of moaning as the lips that had recently enjoy the attention of his mouth were teased with his tip, slow and sweet.

'I wanna fuck you, Win, good and hard.'

'Yes,' was all she could think to say; how did he make such tritely dirty words used countlessly before sound so damn hot? 'Yes, fuck me as hard as you like.'

'Hold onto me.' Spike nearly growled it, and leaving one of her legs on the bed he lifted the other so the back of her thigh pressed against his torso while he gripped her hips. His gaze never wavered from hers as she wrapped her fingers around his impressive length and helped him slide in, just past his head before he went the rest of the way in with a single thrust. 'My god Win, you are still so tight, so fucking hot.'

'Yes,' Winnie said again, then said it over and over as Spike, her guardian angel and red-hot lover, drove her to the point of madness. She felt her mind come apart, the fragments of her psyche splinter with bright light as her whole body seemed to clench before rocking with the explosion of a phenomenal orgasm. 'Again, my love, make me come again.'

Hips moving at lightening speed, Spike drove into her again and again, all the way to the hilt as he groaned with delight when Winnie clenched wetly, warmly around him. 'I...I...I love you Win,' he panted, unable to hold onto his razor thin control any more.

'I love you too, Mike, and I...I'm...oh, God, oh oh oh God, yes! Mike, I'm coming again, it feels so good, I love when you fuck me hard like this, oh...oh...oh! Fuck! Yes! Yes! Yes!'

She shuddered once more, so violently it was possible she lost a full layer of skin, and blinded by twin beams of love and lust Spike emptied himself inside her on a single gasp of triumph.

Spent, he slithered bonelessly down to snuggle against her, still joined most intimately with her, Spike kissed her before smoothing his hand over her body to find the thunderclap of her heartbeat. 'Winnie.'

'Yeah?'

'No, just...that's your name. You're Winnie I'm Mike. Just making sure that now that we've fucked each other's brains out we can still remember that much.'

Winnie giggled, stretched her arms. 'That...is exactly how I envisioned that round going when I woke you up with my magical girl powers known as being naked and hot.'

'That's the magic of women,' Spike agreed, 'you are exactly what gets my motor running, and running hot. Sophie, she's sexy but I don't turn into a slack-jawed idiot around her the way Ed does when he's about as horny as we were twenty minutes ago.'

'I won't bother asking if you'll still think I'm hot when I'm like a million months pregnant, but...' Winnie didn't wanna wreck the mood in the slightest but something Spike had said made her think now that the haze of hormones was slightly cleared. 'Will you still think the sex is good after having the babies? Or will it be like throwing a foot-long down a hallway?'

'Win, I know you,' Spike told her, taking her fingers and holding them close. 'I know you'll do those exercise things that help women tighten themselves back up and you're never one to skip out on doctor's orders.'

'But what if-'

'Win, I love you, and you'll always be the one I love, the one I want to make love with, and have sex with, and...' Spike nipped her earlobe. 'Fuck senseless in the guest room of her father's mansion.'

Winnie could only giggle, give him a quick kiss. 'We should get up.'

'I thought I was up already.'

'Oh, funny man. Ummmm...' She looked around sheepishly. 'We should probably shower because the last thing I want, especially after both of us had a sex talk with Aaron and his girlfriend last night, is to go upstairs with that very obvious fragrance hanging around us. Normally I wouldn't care but we did it last night and this morning and-'

Spike cut her off with a quick kiss. 'It's adorable how quickly you go from a being better than a porn star in bed with me to bashful about what your family will say. I know we're in their house but it is so damn cute.'

'Remind yourself of this moment when my brother tells you he and Devon finally took the leap and took each others' V.'

'They did?'

Winnie bit back the giggle at Spike's sudden panic. 'No, but it's a solid probability in the future.'

'Winnie it's Christmas, play nice. Right now I'm just thinking about how long we can play in the shower before anyone gets suspicious.'


End file.
